The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1887-04-01
STOKES oE The Rail.


curious freaks of an engine that ever
occurred in my experience with them.
offer no explanation. for | never have
been able to solve it half satisfactorily
to myself, and will. therefore. leave you
to draw your own conclusions. 1t was
about sixteen years ago when l first
commenced to run a passenger train.
The night was dark and stormy, in the
middle of December l was ordered
for the midnight express. and somehow
from the very start everything seemed
to 90 wrong. Even the fireman APP
peared to act and work differently from
usual Well, to make matters worse,
we were detained an hour at the depot,
and then the conductor came and told
me that the superintendent was on the
train and bound for the other end of the
road.
Nov, right here l want to say that
l have always had the reputation of be-
ing one of the most careful and best
engineers on the road, together with
being able TO make the best time. This
was the first time the superintendent
had ever been on my train, and, of
course, l was anxious to sustain my
good reputation. But the fates were
against mean hour late, the night
dark and stormy, and our regular
running time between forty and
fifty miles an hour. Well, we pulled
out of the station with my mind
made up to reach our destination on
time if the wheels would stay under
IF hn
city limits 1 opened on all the steam
she had and let her go. But she didn't
seem to move at half her usual speed,
and then she didn't seem to make
steam well, either. l began to be inn
patient, and scolded the fireman for
not doing good work with his fire.
He seemed to try his best but it was
no 90. She would not steam well, i'll
spite of his exertions. Then the
pumps began to be troublesome. One
of them stopped working altogether,
and the other became more unreliable
every minute. 1t began to dawn upon
me that making up time was out of the
question.
''You may imagine my feelings, for
it seemed to me as if my whole reputa-
ton was staked on this trip. Iprofess
to know my business pretty well and
can get speed out of an engine if any
man can, and my heart was down be-
low zero when we began to drop be-
hind our regular running time. But it
was no use. Everything was against
me. l was mad clear through.
"When we left Station D we were
one hour and ten minutes late, and the
conductor had just made a remark that
nettled me quite little. l had asked
him if there were any orders at Station
D. He answered: None, except
to try to get there in time for dinner,
which was pure sarcasm, for If we
made our running time we would be
there in time for breakfast. Well, my
heart was clear down in my boots, and
when / shut off the steam going into
Station B-I found the water so low
in the boiler that something had to be
done for the pumps before we could
leave that station, as there was then a
a heavy grade to climb for several
miles. I informed the conductor that
we would be delayed fifteen or twenty
minutes with the work of taking down
one of the pumps, and then proceeded
with the work.
eve were just about ready to start
of an engine, and looking up saw
train approaching from the very direc-
ton in which we were going. When
the train pulled into the station, we
found that the telegraph operator at Sta
ton D. had neglected to give us
meeting orders for this train. Had it
not been for the pumps we would have
dashed on to what would probably
have been one of the most terrible col
lisions in the history of railroads.
Now comes the remarkable part of
the story. From the time we left Sta
ton B both pumps worked like a
charm-bear in mind that had found
nothing whatever the matter with the
pump that had taken down, rs there
was apparently no reason for it not
working and the old engine seemed
to dart along with twice her
usual speed. Gradually she began
to pick up the time again, and in
the next fifty miles we had made up
fifteen minutes, which was lightning
speed in those days. There was just
nineteen minutes to make the last
twenty miles in, and l need not say
that we pulled into our destination on
time.
Here, indeed, was an instance of
cranky engine saving a collision that
would probably have resulted in a
great loss of human life and property.
Railroading is full of just such expert
ences, and l have had many of them
which might interest you, but l do not
recall any of them just now, Speaking
of the peculiarities of engineers, it is
not best for me to say much, for am
a queer sort of fellow myself. But
there is one engineer running on this
road now who thinks his engine can
feel, for when she doesn't run fast
enough to please him he beats her
with hammer '-DetrOn Tribune.
At the time Mrs. Skeetup at